The Power of Engagement Part 3 — Expanding the Foundation of Connection
How about all the other “non-shared” commitments, interests and values? Are they to be thrown out or ignored?
Today, we’re going to explore part-1 of the 5-part model of engagement which is:
Expanding The Foundation Of Connection and Relationship: The room we have to contribute and be contributed to is in direct proportion to the depth and breadth of our connection to other people and to the world. Being related is the foundation of engaging people in the possibility of living on purpose.
Here are some of the components for building a solid foundation of relatedness:
• Knowing We’re Already Related: We’re already related to someone else by the very fact that we’re both human beings. While it’s easy to focus on our differences, when we really get right down to it, we have far more in common than we have different about us. So, we already have a strong base to start from and to build upon. Remembering this, the idea of a complete stranger becomes ludicrous. Forgetting this results in an unnecessary disconnect.
• Being Authentic: While it may feel risky to ‘put yourself out there’ in the world, authenticity is a key component of being connected to others. In the last few years, transparency has become a popular term and a worthwhile goal and intention. The more transparent we are, the less we have to hide. The less we have to hide the more freedom we have to be ourselves — to be authentic. We’ll explore more about this with the distinction of being “purposefully public.”
• A Context of Desiring the Highest Good for All Concerned: While this is not the only context to come from, it can be a very powerful one for building the bond of connection. With this context, we expand our sphere of interest beyond ourselves, even beyond just our loved ones and friends. We begin to step into the role of global citizen out to create a world that works for everyone. Everybody counts and everyone wins.
• Clarity of Intent: Know and clearly communicate the intention of being connected and in communication. Knowing we’re already related is a good starting point, it’s just not the endpoint. The more we’re up to, the more important having a broad base of relatedness becomes, not just in the numbers of people involved, but even more importantly the depth to which we’re connected and related.
• Clarity of Knowing Your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose: Knowing who you are as your life purpose and knowing the other person is also a “divinely inspired being”, is a powerful bonding point. Knowing each other's life purpose is the starting point to relating to each other as that purpose while granting room to each other’s Inherited Purpose.
• Declaring who we are to each other: Even if you don’t have a clear sense of your life purpose, you can declare who you are for the other person. Of course, when you know your life purpose with crystal clarity, it’s valuable to share it with others so they can then relate to you like that rather than all the other ways they could relate to you by default.
• Building Credibility: Oftentimes, people want to know about our expertise, training, education, etc. Knowing this and sharing it powerfully can build credibility and add to the foundation.
• Commonly shared commitments, values, and interests: These are important facets of the foundation. We don’t need to share all the same commitments, values, and interests, but it’s good to have some common meeting ground. It’s also important to embrace and honor the differences as well, as we’ll explore more below.
• Empathy & Sensitivity to Others: We all appreciate it when another takes the time and makes the effort to get into our world, and doing so increases our sense of being connected. Included in this is the ability to really listen to another person. Don’t we love people when they take the time to really “get” who we are, as highlighted in the movie, Avatar’s famous line: “I see you.”
Embracing Our Common Ground as well as Our Differences
Let’s take a moment to expand on this one idea just a little more. As stated above, important parts of the foundation of being related are shared commitments, values, and interests. These make up the common ground upon which to build a stronger connection. But how about all the other “non-shared” commitments, interests and values? Are they to be thrown out or ignored? Not at all…not unless you want to greater lessen the value of the relationship. We each bring our own unique commitments, interests, and values to any relationship as well as our unique talents, gifts, and abilities. When we operate from a place of mutual respect, cooperation, and collaboration, then our uniqueness becomes a valuable asset to the relationship. We become greater than just the sums of the two parts as we begin to work synergistic-ally.
Click Here to Stay Informed & On Purpose
W. Bradford Swift has enjoyed a combo career as a writer and life coach for over thirty years and now coaches aspiring authors to write that someday, one day book TODAY. http://wbradfordswift.com/writing-coach/
